


Three's a Crowd(ed Cell)

by daisybrien



Category: Escape from Furnace - Alexander Gordon Smith
Genre: (implied but ye theyre all rlly gay), Angst, Anxiety, Book 1, Book 1: Lockdown, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Separation Anxiety, Separations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 17:26:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7649842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisybrien/pseuds/daisybrien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nerves are on edge the night before their attempted prison escape. With one of Alex's most important people absent, tucked away within another distant cell in the hours before their hopeful reunion, anxiety begins to take the forefront of his mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three's a Crowd(ed Cell)

“Do you think he’ll be alright?”

Alex is one of the first to volunteer his voice to the usual disorienting chorus of the night, breaking the silence that had blanketed the cold prison walls as darkness finally fell. His whisper is almost lost on the hum of the stale, recirculating air and the chattering of his teeth as fear begins to bloom in his stomach, a seed slowly budding as the clanks of metal bars and the sneering laughter of inmates begin to rise in volume. Taunts start to echo off the walls, jeers and sobs ringing through the air like a sorrowful orchestra. He squeezes his eyes shut, a fragile bubble protecting him from the reality outside his cell, and is about to open his mouth to repeat himself when he feels the bunk bed shift.

There’s a deep sigh, heavy with exhaustion and exasperation. Alex sees a tuft of Donovan’s hair peek over the edge of the mattress above him, a blurry shadow that barely catches the light of the television screen mounted on the wall levels below. Its spinning logo mocks them.

“He’s survived every other night,” Donovan musters half-heartedly, a note of irritation in his tone. His breaths come labored and slow, the pull of sleep seeming to weight heavy on him like a pile of bricks. Alex can feel the dull prickle of it behind his eyelids, beginning to regret speaking and wanting to give into what little rest he can muster before Donovan pipes up again. “What makes you think tonight’s gonna be any different?”

“Nothing,” Alex says. Donovan’s head disappears, the dip of the bedframe above him outlining his body roughly - it doesn’t do its true form the justice it deserves – as he lies still and stiff, a mirror to Alex’s own terrified form. “I can’t help but think of something terrifying.”

“Don’t need to think of anything terrifying when you’re already here, dude,” Donovan says, sniffing out what Alex thinks is supposed to be a laugh; rather grating and crude, it sounds more like an awful groan.

“I mean something happening tonight,” Alex states obviously. “That something might happen to him.”

“You’re too worried about this.”

“And you’re not?”

There’s a beat of silence between them, a soft exhale. “I know I need to stay calm if we’re going to make this escape worthwhile.”

Alex grunts in response. He flings one arm over his aching eyes, plunging the world into further darkness. His next words are mumbled through a stone in his throat, dragging a stubborn tear out onto his sleeve with them.

“You always seem to be able to do that,” Alex snickers thickly. He sniffs back snot, grateful for the cries and howls of verbal war, loud enough to hide his sorrow. “I can’t help the nerves.” One hands tugs at his sheets. “Especially if I don’t know if he’s okay.”

“And what, I’m just the mailman then?” Donovan chuckles. This time his laugh is genuine, stirring the anxiety in Alex’s belly like fizzing bubbles in a shaken soda can. It shines just as brightly in the blackness as his smile would if he could see it. “Glad to know you care about me too.”

“It’s different, dumbass,” Alex snorts back, and they almost have to muffle their laughter in order for their joy to stay disguised among the cacophony. The sudden euphoria that hits them sits wrong, so out of place in the gloomy horror of the place, each cry slowly chipping it away like the slow erosion of a rock battered by a violent river. 

“Is there something you guys are doing that I don’t know about?”

“It’s not like that,” Alex says, his grin disappearing. His cheeks hurt even after the few seconds spent without a frown, so unused to the privilege of smiling. “Zee isn’t here with us at night.”

“I know,” Donovan sighs. Alex is almost startled by the promptness of his response. He hears him take a deep breath, waiting uneasily for more words of reassurance he unfortunately doesn’t receive. “I know.”

The bed above shakes with a creak, a blur of shadow dangling over the side of its mattress. Alex breathes a laugh, reaching up to the proffered hand gratefully, happy to seize the opportunity to interlace their fingers. Donovan’s palm is dry and rough against his own, its size and warmth an anchor to Alex’s thoughts as they drift off to awful corners of his paranoid mind. 

“Zee’s smart,” Donovan says quietly. “He might be the size of a twelve year old, and his arms might be the width of a toothpick, but you know how clever he is. He can hold his own.”

Donovan gives his hand a strong squeeze, more painful that comforting, but Alex is grateful to have it all the same. He lets his arm go limp as it begins to grow numb, letting Donovan hold it high before the two reluctantly let go. 

“He’ll be fine tonight,” Donovan says with firm finality. The arm hanging over the bed disappears, shuffling sheets growing still as he finally settles in for his last ever night in the top bunk of their shared cell. 

“Yeah,” Alex sighs, bleary eyes blinking up at the metal bedframe. He folds his hands over his chest, trying not to miss the third presence that should be there, the absence of another hand, slender and scarred and energetic in his own. “He’ll be fine.”

**Author's Note:**

> Turns out Zee was okay, if others weren't in the end. Haha these three kill me.


End file.
